Most shounen protagonists are big dreamers, often aiming for the absolute top of their chosen fields. This is no different for Izuku ‘Deku’ Midoriya, the protagonist of My Hero Academia. Deku dreams of being Japan’s number 1 hero, following in the footsteps of his idol All Might. And it is the incredible superpower ‘One for All’ that All Might passes to Deku that enables his journey to begin.
However, this didn’t need to be the case. All Might and Deku met on a whim, and the former knew his career was coming to an end long before then. As such, it’s been revealed that he was already looking for candidates to be his successor. So in a world where Deku never received the honor, who would All Might’s best choices be?
8 Katsuki Bakugo
Even without the extra boost provided by One for All, Bakugo’s quirk is one of the strongest in the series. He’s also more physically strong than Deku, meaning he would’ve had better control over OFA to begin with. The issue, though, is his attitude.
Being All Might’s successor requires being popular as well as powerful, and Bakugo is simply too aggressive for that. His arrogance also runs the risk of taking him down a dark path if he had that much power. Although, the direct influence of All Might as a mentor may have helped turn him into a more humble, friendly hero.
7 Hawks
As the former number 3 and current number 2 hero, Hawks certainly doesn’t need any help on the power front. He’s able to control hundreds of individual feathers simultaneously and has received the best training of any hero, even being able to go completely undercover as a villain.
He likely wouldn’t want One for All to begin with, but if he accepted it, he would’ve been a great successor. His popularity is extremely high among the public, and he’s already very sociable and competent. The added boost would make him practically unbeatable, and the practice he receives controlling his many feathers would translate well into operating several quirks.
6 Sir Night Eye
When considering passing on One for All, one would expect All Might’s own sidekick to have been in the running at some point. Although Night Eye himself didn’t seem to want it, he would’ve actually been a really good successor. Especially since he's a good enough teacher to have trained a potential OFA successor by himself.
Night Eye more than anyone else in MHA understands All Might’s appeal. He is shown to have a fanaticism for his mentor rivaled only by Deku himself. Even without a strength-enhancing quirk, he was also able to fight on par with combat heroes. Giving him OFA would’ve even allowed him to get close to villains much easier, allowing him to activate his future-seeing quirk with greater ease, and he is shown to be even smarter than All Might himself.
5 Shoto Todoroki
Speaking of successors, Shoto was born to be the perfect successor to his father Enji, also known as Endeavour, the number 2 hero in Japan. With a quirk of half ice and fire, he is able to overcome his father’s overheating weakness entirely.
Giving him OFA is by no means necessary to make him a great hero, but it’s hard to not want to see the powers of the top 2 heroes combined into one successor. This could’ve been a uniting factor for Endeavour and All Might, and with both their influences combined, Shoto would have truly become the new symbol of peace.
4 Eijiro Kirishima
Unlike most other kids, Ejiro Kirishima didn’t specifically look up to All Might. He actually idolized the hero Crimson Riot due to his chivalrous personality. However, the teachings of Crimson Riot do fall close to those of All Might, emphasizing selflessness, and determination.
It helps that Kirishima is a rather good-natured young man, often found with a grin on his face just like All Might. With OFA, not only would he have immense strength, but he’d be able to further increase his defense with his own quirk, turning him into a nigh unbreakable shield to protect innocent people and his fellow heroes.
3 Fatgum
One of All Might's defining factors was his smile. He wasn’t just a strong hero, he was a charismatic and friendly one who everyone could get behind. Even Deku has struggled to capture this aspect of All Might, but Fatgum already has it in spades.
Fatgum is as friendly as a hero can get, even bearing resemblance to Totoro from My Neighbour Totoro. He’s also rather young and a great mentor. With the boost from OFA, his fat absorption quirk would become nigh impenetrable, making catching villains even easier for him than it already is.
2 Koichi Haimawari
While not seen in the main MHA story, Koichi is the protagonist of MHA: Vigilantes. As the name implies, he is a wannabe hero who instead became a vigilante, since he was unable to get into hero school.
Koichi is a huge All Might fan just like Deku, even wearing All Might hoodies as part of his vigilante costume. He also possesses Deku’s bravery, as he actually missed his hero school interview to save a drowning child. His leg up on Deku is that he actually does have a quirk, which allows him to glide around as if on skates.
1 Mirio Togata
The number one position here was already spelled out within MHA itself. Mirio just checks every single box. He has All Might’s good nature and charisma in spades, rarely found without a smile on his face. He also has a similar stature to a young All Might, meaning he could’ve had full access to 100% of OFA’s power from the start, unlike Deku.
Night Eye and UA’s principal Nezu both had Mirio as their top recommendation, and had Deku not come along, he likely would’ve been chosen by All Might. To make things better, using his permeation quirk, he would’ve literally been an untouchable version of All Might, truly living up to his title of “the invincible man”.